As a student, technology has grown leaps and bounds over the course of my life. When I was in kindergarten, technology was apart of the classroom in more traditional ways- through the television and a projector. As I came into middle school, technology grew significantly. The school library had several laptop and iPad carts and teachers used clickers to complete assignments. In high school, almost every teacher had moved everything to an online format- usually Google Classroom/Slides/Documents. This allowed students to collaborate on projects together and also allowed students to become a part of their personal learning process. In college, with COVID-19, technology played a huge role in allowing all students access to their education through Canvas and other online platforms. I wasn't the best with technology, but my Freshman year of college definitely exposed me to it quickly. This was stressful at first, it felt like I was going to sink or swim. But now, I couldn't imagine not having the technology that I use now everyday (Outlook/UNK Library Search Engine/Canvas/GroupMe/etc.)
As a teacher, I want to be well educated on a variety of technology to better support my students. I want to be able to offer students several ways of completing the same task (differentiation) and technology is a great way to do that. For example, if I wanted students to show me major themes and plot points of a novel to show me that they understood the book, I could let them show me in a paper (Typed), a presentation (Google Slides/Canva/Prezi) or even in a study guide that they make on their own and allow the class to use (Kahoot/Quizlet). All of these different technologies would allow me to know that my students understood what they read and that they had a good understanding of the themes/plot, but it also allows for varying amounts of creativity and technology use. This should allow students an opportunity to show what they have learned in several different ways- without getting bored or feeling like there is only one way to do a task. Additionally, I want to be up to date with information about new technology so that I can help prepare my students for life after high school where they will be expected to use the same technology in their day-to-day life.